The impetus for this study came from my own history of being a single mother while completing my undergraduate degree and the struggles that entailed. The research uncovers both the barriers and facilitators experienced by single mothers in undergraduate programs in a Canadian context and utilizes a framework of access and equity in education. The co-participants belonged to diverse social and political identities in terms of age, race and ethnicity, sexuality, (dis)ability, and countries of birth. All the women attended universities in Southern Ontario. Twenty-five women agreed to be interviewed in either a group or individual interview. Co-participants were encouraged to contribute to the design and analysis of the study wherever possible. Previous research based in the United States conceptualized single mother students as social assistance recipients and explored their difficulties within this context. This study suggests using a wider lens to include other experiences identified by co-participants and the literature review. The study locates barriers both within the university as well as in the larger society such as interpersonal violence, stress, financial insecurity, racism and other forms of discrimination. However, it also identifies supports and strengths single mothers encountered such as family, friends, children as motivation, professors, on-campus supports, and critical pedagogy, all of which were largely missing from previous research. Many women challenged the often pathologizing dominant discourse and instead described single motherhood as empowering, independent, and liberating as compared to being a part of a traditional nuclear family. Co-participants also identified feeling isolated, discussions around which engendered a social group outside of the research project. By creating awareness of the needs of diverse single mother students, this project aims to disrupt the still-prevalent notion of the “traditional student” and accompanying policies and practices in institutions of education and the wider community. While much has been documented in Canada about the need for access, equity, and inclusive schooling, single mothers in particular have not been a main focus and included among other intersections of identity. The findings from this study address this gap and contribute to the literature.

This thesis aims to investigate if there are differences between men and women in rural and urban areas on perception of women empowerment. The focus is on girls’ education and development in a post – colonial country. Semi structured, qualitative interviews were conducted in Babati district, Tanzania in February 2011. In order to obtain as much useful information and data as possible several research questions were focused on during the fieldwork. These were: What is the perception on empowerment of women, according to local men and women in rural and urban Babati? , How does a gender gap in school affect development, according to local men and women in rural and urban Babati? , Is the patriarchal heritage an obstacle for development and gender equality, according to local men and women in rural and urban Babati? , Why are urban areas more equal than rural areas, according to local men and women in rural and urban Babati? The conclusion is that people in rural and urban areas are very similar in their opinions’ of empowerment of women and education for girls. The traditional social and cultural structures are often obstacles for development.

This study explores the reasons for why aboriginal parents decide for their children to cross district to school with a specific focus on three school district of Paiwaness tribes in Pingtung County. The area we research is undeveloped and the researcher is himself Paiwanese. It aims to explore why aboriginal parents choose to leave the school in tribes, discover the problems that parents and children encounter , how they handle the problems and the adaptations for children. The study adopts semi-structured questionnaire to conduct in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used to identify interviews and there were ten aboriginal parents were interviewed. The conclusions of the research are as the following:. 1.The main reasons for crossing district schooling include lack of peer-learning competitive in tribes, adaption in mainstream society and parents¡¦ positive discipline. 2.Poor marketing strategy of tribal school administrator, and local indigenous teachers¡¦ background and their negative image within daily lives affected parents¡¦ trust toward tribal school. 3.The decision of cross district schooling for children is influenced by parents¡¦ learning experience and opinions of family numbers. 4.The main consideration of cross district schooling for parents is to get household register of school district easily without comparing the ideas between the two different kinds of schools. 5.The problems they faced include driving the children to school, cultural learning of Paiwanese and learning tribal lives. But the main solution is passive pattern for parents. 6.The results of cross district school choice are satisfied mostly with parents¡¦ expectation but there is still a gap.

Researchers have found considerable evidence that information about school performance affects people's choices about which schools to send their children to and even where to live. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the effects of school performance information on people's political behavior. Yet Hirschman (1970) famously highlighted the importance of taking seriously not only economic forces, but also the role of "political mechanisms", that is, "non-market forces" or "voice", in analyzing people's responses to school performance and the implications of these responses for school outcomes. This dissertation explores the effect of information about student and school performance on people's political attitudes and behavior. I first present findings from an original dataset of school board elections in Florida that indicate that voters fail to punish school board incumbents in response to information signaling poor school performance. There is even evidence that voters sometimes reward incumbents for failure. I next analyze a dataset that links student test scores in England to a subsequent survey, and find that that informational signals about individual student performance can have long−lasting effects on parental behavior. Finally, I analyze the results of a survey experiment administered to a nationally representative sample of Americans, and find that information about the relative performance of local schools depresses average perceptions of local school quality and increases support for school reforms. / Government

The three chapters in this dissertation look at different aspects of the labor market and its players. The first chapter estimates the impact of using the internet for job search on job match quality. Using both the semi-parametric Meyer (1990) model and the non-parametric Hausman Woutersen (2014) hazard model, the paper finds that exit rate from employment is at least 28% lower when internet is used as a job search tool. The second chapter looks at the effect of past unemployment on future wages. It is believed that employers may use past unemployment as a signal of low productivity. In this situation workers with a history of unemployment may receive lower wages. The paper uses the Machado Mata (2005) quantile decomposition technique to decompose the wage difference into differences due to characteristics and differences due to rewards. Results indicate that workers with an unemployment spell of more than three months receive at least 12% lower wages and that more than 40% of this wage difference can be attributed to the lower rewards received by the previously unemployed.. The last chapter focuses on human capital formation and looks at some of the reasons behind the low levels of schooling India. Using the Indian Household Development Survey (2005), the paper finds that income continues to be an important factor behind the low level of primary school enrollment. On average, poor students have at least 3% lower enrollment rates, when compared to similar skilled non-poor students.

Between the years 1840 and 1860, white prejudice played an important role in shaping blacks’ experiences in Upper Canada. This thesis explores and analyzes the history of black anti-slavery, whites’ attitudes toward blacks and the development of mandatory and free public schooling in Upper Canada during the nineteenth century, in order to demonstrate that race-relations between blacks and whites were worst both after 1850 in general, and over issues of schooling in particular.

Between the years 1840 and 1860, white prejudice played an important role in shaping blacks’ experiences in Upper Canada. This thesis explores and analyzes the history of black anti-slavery, whites’ attitudes toward blacks and the development of mandatory and free public schooling in Upper Canada during the nineteenth century, in order to demonstrate that race-relations between blacks and whites were worst both after 1850 in general, and over issues of schooling in particular.

This thesis explores the unique circumstances surrounding the provincial school at Telegraph Creek in northwestern British Columbia. Initially conceived as a school for the children of white settlers, local trustees permitted the attendance of Tahltan children year after year to maintain the minimum enrollment requirement to receive provincial funding. Combined with an annual tuition grant from the Department of Indian Affairs for the schooling of status Indian children, the Telegraph Creek public school functioned as an integrated school until provincial, federal, and missionary authorities interfered in the 1940s. The research demonstrates how decisions made by both provincial and Indian Affairs education officials leading up to the 1949 cost-sharing agreement to build a new school at Telegraph Creek, were far from benign. Indigenous children in northwest British Columbia became the objects of a post-war educational policy, which promoted integrated schooling and ironically, facilitated segregated schooling. / Graduate

Based on regularly published data we quantitatively assess the efficiency of UK secondary, private schools in providing quantity vs. quality of graduates on a per output basis. In economic terms the primary question is whether indeed an increase in the quantity of graduates with the observed inputs would be associated with a deterioration of average quality of graduates. The estimation framework is a new, statistically enriched type of Data Envelopment Analysis as detailed in Gstach (2002) to account for output-specific efficiencies. The results indicate that quantity clearly dominates quality as performance distinguishing criteria amongst sample schools, i.e. on average quantity efficiency is low while quality efficiency is high. The results also provide evidence that the abilities of schools to provide quantity resp. quality are positively correlated. These findings indicate considerable scope for increasing the number of graduates without sacrificing average graduation quality through improved school management. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Scholars suggest that when students use information and communication technology to complete and present identity texts about their own cultural background, such as self-authored literature, artwork, and multi-media texts, they learn about themselves and others and they can improve literacy skills and proficiency with technology (Chow & Cummins, 2003; Cummins, 2006). In this exploratory case study five middle-school students attending a diverse inner city school, and each representing a different demographic, were asked to complete an identity text project. In question was whether they would consume or critically deconstruct the negative hegemonic discourses they might encounter in the process. Results indicated that student response to these discourses was inconsistent, that students minoritized as black were especially vulnerable to them, and that student-led constructivist projects like this should be preceded by effective inclusive schooling and media literacy pedagogy to help ensure student engagement with multi-literacies is enhanced as intended.